News

The University community was on watch last week as a Hawk Alert was e-mailed regarding an unknown individual who attended a class in Howard Hall.

According to the mass e-mail sent out by William McElrath, Chief of the University Police Department, the incident happened around 10:00 pm on March 19.

With his identity unknown at this time, the 5’9”-5’10” male with black curly hair wearing green khaki’s and a black t-shirt pulled his chair closer to a student in the class revealing a sexually explicit message on his cell phone, according to the e-mail.

Currently, the name of the student, the professor and his or her class is not being released to the public; nor is the content of the text message that the individual showed to the student.

However, to protect the safety of the University community, multiple measures are being taken.

“The Hawk safety alert has been sent to several surrounding police departments in an attempt to identify him,” said Jeffrey Layton, Detective Corporal for the the University Police Department. “Criminal complaints could be signed if the victim wishes to appear in court to prosecute it. The subject would be banned from campus and arrested for criminal trespass if he returns.”

After months of preparation and a collaboration of ideas, The Outlooklaunched their new website and mobile site this morning, April 4, to upgrade the online presence of the publication.

The new and interactive website, located at the same web address (outlook.monmouth.edu) features a multimedia design which compliments the stories appearing in the print edition in an online format. All stories can now be shared on social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter.

The website has been constructed by Sarah Oseroff, a junior business management major, and Josh Silva, a junior business management/marketing major. Web design began in February 2012.

“It is really neat seeing all of our ideas come to life on the Internet. It’s nice to be behind the scenes at The Outlook,” Oseroff said.

Any smartphone and/or tablet can view The Outlook’s mobile site by typing in the web address in the browser. The mobile site can also be accessed via the Monmouth University app by scrolling to ‘links’ and then selecting ‘The Outlook’ from the drop down menu. Appearing in a quick-access format, stories can be instantly located by tapping on a specific section – whether it be news, lifestyles, sports, entertainment, etc.

John Morano, professor of journalism who has advised the paper for over 20 years, said, “This is a new era for The Outlook.It’s exciting, it’s timely, and it’s ahead of the curve of where not only many college newspapers are but quite frankly, many professional ones as well. Josh and Sarah have done an incredible job bringing the paper into this new frontier.”

Elephants, dolphins and rhinoceros

These are just a few of the animals that students have the chance to interact with this semester and observe in the new Field Experience: Six Flags Wild Safari course being offered this spring. It is an upper level course being offered to 15 psychology students for the first time. The course includes visits to Six Flags as well as class meetings, library research and journaling of on-site supervised exposure to the animals. The class was the brainchild of Dr. Lisa Dinella, Assistant Psychology Professor at the University.

The idea of a relationship between animals and University students clicked when Dinella went to Six Flags in the summer with her children and said that while she was attending the dolphin pre-show, she realized that they were discussing many of the same concepts that she was teaching in her intro class. She said she stayed after the show and asked if it was possible for students to actually see the trainers interacting with the animals. Dinella discovered something interesting about the background of some of the Six Flag animal trainers.

“Well, what we found is that most of us didn’t know until I started this that almost all the animal trainers that work there have a psychology background in some way, sometimes even a psychology degree,” Dinella said. “So most of the principles of training animals have psychological principles in their foundation.”

The University welcomed Holocaust survivor Helen Terris last Wednesday. She was eight-years-old when the Nazis began their mass execution of Germany’s Jewish population.

“I could not speak about my past for 50 years because it was just too painful for me and now I can no longer remain silent,” Terris began the story of her life during WWII. “It is now up to us, the children survivors, to keep the story alive so that it is never forgotten, and never ever repeated.”

Terris revealed to the audience that Jews had many rules once the Germans invaded the ghettos. They had to walk in the gutters, they were unable to talk to anyone who was not Jewish, children were not allowed to be enrolled in school, they lost all their businesses and they had to wear a yellow star over their left breast and back so they could be easily identified. If they were to break any of these rules, they could and would be punished by death.

At one point during the war, the Jews had to gather together at 7:00 am one day and no one could be left behind, otherwise they would be shot; this is when the selection period started. “The Germans called this an action; we called it a slaughter, because that is what it was,” Terris said. If you had a man, your families were sent to the left which meant life. Terris, however, only had her mother so they were sent to the right, which meant death.

Terris’ mother knew they were going to be killed so she told her daughter to run. “We ran into a house and saw three dead men on the floor; they must have had the same idea as us,” Terris said. “My mother scooped up the blood and put it all over my body and face. We had to play dead while the German’s checked the house.”

The 21st Annual Scholarship Reception was held on Friday, March 30 at 3:00 pm in Wilson Hall. Administrators, faculty, staff, donors, scholarship recipients and their families gathered together to celebrate scholarships received.

According to Jeffery Mills, Vice President for University Advancement, 373 students received endowed or sponsored scholarships for the fall 2011 and spring 2012 semesters. The total money given amounted to just over one million dollars.

According to Vice President for Students and Community Services Mary Ann Nagy, the event’s main purpose is to give donors and scholarship recipients a chance to meet each other.

“I think it is wonderful that the University brings together the donors and student recipients of these scholarships each year. As someone who supports both an annual and now endowed scholarship, I appreciate the opportunity to meet my students and learn more about them,” Nagy said.

Nagy also said that it is important for the students to meet people who have made a financial commitment to helping others so they can understand the meaning of giving back when they are able to do so in the future. “We want students to understand the responsibility of giving back whenever we can,” Nagy said.

Graduation is just a few months away and many of you will soon be making important decisions about jobs, graduate school, and your futures. Graduation day is always filled with promise, yet for you and your classmates, graduation day has also traditionally raised another worrisome question: where am I going to get health insurance?

The good news is that thanks to the new health care law, many young adults up to age 26 can now stay on their parents' plan. Since President Obama signed this landmark law two years ago this week, 2.5 million additional young adults have been able to get coverage under this invaluable benefit.

Before Congress enacted the health care law in 2010, most newly-minted college graduates left not only the classroom behind but their health insurance as well. That meant having to hopefully find a job that provided coverage or buying coverage on their own, which can be unaffordable, especially for someone just out of college.

Those challenges meant that young adults were almost twice as likely to be uninsured as older Americans.

For many young adults who felt healthy or cash-strapped, going without coverage sometimes seemed like a good alternative. But forgoing health care coverage comes with serious risks. It left young people and their families vulnerable to accidents or illnesses that could mean a lifetime of medical bills and debt, or worse. And it also meant they often went without the kind of preventive care and checkups that could keep them healthy.

And for those who really needed coverage – like young adults suffering from chronic conditions like diabetes – going without coverage could mean going without critical, necessary care. As a result, many young adults made painful compromises, in some cases taking a job just because it offered insurance, instead of following a dream of grad school or going into business for themselves.

University email is due to change to a different system before the spring semester is over. In conjunction with SGA (Student Government Association), the University’s Information Management and IT department have been working on a cloudbased enterprise email for over a year now.

The new system, managed and sponsored by Microsoft, is for educational institutions and will be implemented at the University at no direct cost. The selection of this system was backed by elements of familiarity due to similar software with compatibility and support being very simple to navigate.

As of now, 216 students in primary pilot groups have been using the system with hardly any problems. With events such as registration imminently approaching, ‘Hawkmail@Live,’ will go live for all remaining student accounts before the spring semester ends.

“We have to migrate in batches,” said Edward Christensen, VP for Information Management. “The motivation is that if we didn’t do it for the spring, we might as well wait. To move students while they’re off for summer, makes no sense.”

Benefits of the new mail system include a 10GB inbox, 25GB of cloud storage, and web apps for Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

The University’s Department of Foreign Language Studies and the Italian Club “L’ORA DEL CAFFE” will present La Festa Italiana (Italian Festival) from 11:30 am to 1 pm on Thursday, in Wilson Auditorium.

Professor Maria Simonelli, Lecturer of Italian and Latin as well as the head of the Italian festival, is very passionate about the event. “The Italian Festival started about ten years ago and every year with different topics on Italian Literature, culture, art and music,” Simonelli said. “It is very important to celebrate such a rich and wonderful culture. The love for my country, language, history and culture pushed me to organize, together with my students, this event. We have been always honored by the participation of the Italian Counsel of New Jersey and Italian scholars.”

The festival is not only geared toward opening students’ eyes to Italian literature, history, and culture, but it also feature many guest speakers. Simonelli will open the program, followed by Dr. Andrea Barbaria, The Italian Counsel of New Jersey, Dr. Irene Deorsola, Professor of Political Science at the University of Torino and School of European Studies, Cardiff University in the United Kingdom.

Along with guest speakers, student presentations will be a part of the festival as well. “I remember a couple of years ago, touching video interviews with some old Italian- Americans of New Jersey done by Monmouth University Students,” said Vincenzo Mele, a sociology professor of Italian nationality at the University.

“The Festa Italiana is always very well organized,” Mele continued. “Every year there are wonderful lectures on topics like the 150th birthday of Italy as a nation, historical character like the tenor Enrico Caruso or, like this year, the concept of love in the Italian literature and culture. Last but not least, there is something you can be sure about on the Festa Italiana - you can experience the best food on campus.”

Examining the Road Taken by Pre-Med Students

Students planning to apply to medical school will partake in a journey while at the University that includes student-created clubs and faculty-made committees.

Aside from the core classes that biology majors are expected to take and maintaining a GPA of 3.5, students have to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). The MCAT, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, is a standardized multiple choice test that includes problem solving, critical thinking, writing skills and knowledge of science concepts and principles that serve as prerequisites to the study of medicine.

In order to assist students planning to attend medical school, the University’s School of Science formed the Pre-Professional Health Advisory Committee (PPHAC). The PPHAC, formed in 1974 by Dr. James Mack, Director of the PPHAC, and Dr. Dorothy Parker, is responsible for guiding students into careers related to medicine, dentistry, veterinary science and other allied health professions.

“We advise students who are interested in medical school, dental school, vet school, physician assistant programs, physical therapy, osteopathic medicine [and] occupational therapy,” Mack said. “We have one of the best programs in the country, not just in the state. I started this in 1974 with Dr. Parker. There is probably no other program in the country that has somebody on continuously for 38 years. Our other faculty members on the committee are very dedicated to helping the students.”

Prevent drunk driving

That is the goal of the HERO campaign, which aims to reward designated drivers for their efforts in preventing vehicular alcohol-related accidents and deaths. The campaign was established in 2000 and has been a large part of the University since 2007. The University held the annual HERO of the year award for the third year in a row last Wednesday.

The University Newswire said that the campaign started with Navy Ensign John Elliott from New Jersey, son of HERO campaign founder William Elliott, when he was hit by a drunk driver in 2000. It has grown into a nationwide program to save lives.

Students and faculty were able to nominate others and they also were able to nominate themselves. Four students were nominated for the award. Ryan Clutter, Chris Sikorski, Gary Mejia, and Chelsea Pfender were the contenders. The winner of the award was Mejia followed by second runner up Pfender and third runner up Clutter. Honorable Mention went to Sikorski.

New Building Not to be for First-Year Students

The proposed new residence hall on campus has been changed to house sophomores instead of incoming first year students.

Mary Anne Nagy, Vice President for Student and Community Services, said that the University is planning on having this new building to continue to meet the demands of the current students.

“In particular, we want to be able to guarantee second year students housing just as we do our first year students,” Nagy said. “The building will house approximately 200 students and will be a traditional style building very similar to Mullaney Hall.”

The construction of the building has not started yet. “We will not start until the University receives the proper approval from the local planning board in West Long Branch,” Nagy added.

The building was originally discussed to be for incoming freshmen to try to standardize housing for the first year students. Also, a majority of their housing is already traditional style.

The newest residence hall on campus is Mullaney Hall which was completed in May 2010 for first year students.